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Reading The Pictures is dedicated to the analysis of news photos and media images.

May 16, 2006

Same As It Ever Was

That giant sucking sound you hear is the air rushing out of the conservative revolution. Trying to identify Tuesday’s key image, The BAG seemed to encounter right wing demoralization at every turn.

So, what was the visual of the day?

There was the newly released video of American Flight 77 slamming into the Pentagon. Perhaps the obsessive and perverse FOX News replay of this necro-porn was supposed to remind conservatives of those good old Bush/Rove-inspired revenge fantasies. By itself, however, the video seemed less than interesting — not to mention, hard to see.

Of course, there was also Tony Snow’s first formal press briefing. But he cried. Bush’s mouthpiece cried.

As a fallback, The BAG decided to revisit The Economist. But here, too, was more conservative devastation. The subject of this latest cover was Bush and Blair. Given Bush’s popularity and Blair’s weakening political status, you have two men who destroyed their reputations out of post-9/11 warmongering.

For historical contrast, I thought I would look back to previous Bush – Blair covers for better days. What I found, however, was not what I expected. Even in this more conservative publication, there were no better days.

(cllck to enlarge)

July 7, 2004

October 4, 2003

With the bursting of the Bush bubble, what you see in hindsight (which the left saw, and spoke out about all along) was how the weapon was mass deception tactically delivered via intimidation and spin.